Flat panel displays such as liquid crystal displays (LCD) are now commonplace in portable electronic devices, computers, televisions, cellular telephones, and in other display applications. Ambient light conditions, however, can dramatically impact the display characteristics, resulting in poor display visibility. To compensate for varying ambient light conditions, and to take opportunities to reduce power consumption, ambient light sensors may be included in the displays. Such ambient light sensors attempt to detect the amount of ambient light and provide input to control circuitry which can automatically adjust the brightness of the display, according to the amount of sensed ambient light.